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WPT Merit Cyprus Classic Championship
Day 1b Completed
2009 WPT Merit Cyprus Classic
WPT Merit Cyprus Classic Championship
Day: 1b
Event Info
2009 WPT Merit Cyprus Classic
Final Results
Event Info
Level Info
Buy-in
$10,000
Total Entries
181
Level
25
Blinds
50,000 / 100,000
Ante
10,000
Players Left 1 / 181
Filter
Your unofficial Day 1b chip leader is Team Full Tilt pro Phil Gordon, whose late surge and last minute elimination of fellow Team Full Tilt pro John Juanda catapulted him to the top of the leaderboard with just over 157,000 in chips.
Not far behind him is Jean Robert Bellande-slayer Jan Skampa, who bagged right around 156,000 in chips at night's end.
Play is scheduled to recommence tomorrow afternoon at 12:00 p.m. sharp, when the survivors from both Day 1 flights -- 125 of them in total -- merge to form one field and begin the next leg of their journey to the final table.
Official chip counts and a Day 2 seating chart will magically appear in this space as soon as they are made available to us.
Join us tomorrow afternoon for our continued coverage of the 2009 WPT Merit Cyprus Classic, live from the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino.
Until then, good night and good luck!
That pot may have put Gordon in the chip lead. He finished the night with 157,000. The biggest stack we counted prior to the last hand was Jan Skampa's 155,000.
In the first, Torelli failed to push Sancalctaroglu off his
by moving all over the top of a preflop reraise holding 
. "You're good," Torelli told Sancalctaroglu as he tabled his bluff. A nine-high board followed and Sancalctaroglu took down the pot -- worth just over 60,000 in chips -- on the strength of his ace-high.Minutes later, a visibly frustrated Torelli opened with a raise to 6,500 -- not quite his entire stack, but most of it -- and Sancalctaroglu came over the top with a 15,000 reraise, which was more than enough to put Torelli all in. A call was made and Torelli tabled a meager
, which was dominated by Sancalctaroglu's 
. The board filled out 
and once again, ace-high was good enough for Sancalctaroglu, who now sits with just over 70,000 in chips.
flop, Kerzhapkin managed to get all 23,150 of his chips in the middle, with Akenhead matching them. Kerzhapkin's 
set of deuces were in a commanding lead over Akenhead's pocket jacks. There was no two-outer miracle for Akenhead; the board bricked out 
and 
to give Kerzhapkin the double-up.Counts after the hand:
Akenhead - 67,000
Kerzhapkin - 52,000
Seat 1: An Unlucky Man
Seat 2: Va Shon Watkins
Seat 3: Patrik Antonius
Seat 4: Howard Lederer
Seat 5: Chris Karagulleyan
Seat 6: Albert Yakoub
Seat 7: Another Unlucky Man
Seat 8: Phil Gordon
Seat 9: John Juanda
Yikes.
. Phil Gordon was on the button, and he quickly put in the call to see the turn card bring the . Juanda loaded the gun with 3,000 more chips and fired them into the middle. Gordon called even quicker this time. The last card off was the , and both players check-checked. Gordon showed his 
first, and Juanda returned his cards to the muck.*****
On the next hand, Va Shon Watkins and Chris Karagulleyan checked a flop of
. Gordon was in position again, and he put out a bet of 5,000 even. Watkins made the smooth call, folding Karagulleyan out of the way. Heads up now, the turn came the 
, drawing checks from both players. The river card was the 
, and Watkins checked it over again. Gordon picked 5,300 as his number and slid the chips out in front of him. After a minute or so of deliberation, Watkins matched the bet. Gordon tabled 
, and it was good enough to win him his second pot in a row.After those two quick chip-ups, the author/commentator/poker player has moved his stack up close to 120,000.
. Both blinds checked before a player bet 4,500. Bansi and the button both called that bet, leaving three players contending for the pot on the turn.The original bettor must have sensed something was wrong; he checked. Bansi then made a very strong lead of 20,000. As soon as the bet was made, the button player glanced to his right at Bansi and then leaned back in his chair. He took two long sips from a water bottle, glanced at Bansi a second time, and then folded. The original bettor also folded, allowing Bansi to drag the pot uncontested.
